Adjacent Words

defiant definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: boldly resisting authority or an opposing force; "brought up to be aggressive and defiant"; "a defiant attitude" [syn: defiant, noncompliant] [ant: compliant]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle French, from Old French, present participle of defier to defy Date: 1583 full of or showing defiance ; bold, impudent <defiant rebels> <a defiant refusal> • defiantly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 showing defiance. 2 openly disobedient. Derivatives: defiantly adv.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Defiant De*fi"ant, a. [Cf. F. d['e]fiant, p. pr. of d['e]fier. See Defy.] Full of defiance; bold; insolent; as, a defiant spirit or act. In attitude stern and defiant. --Longfellow. -- De*fi"ant*ly, adv. -- De*fi"ant*ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you say that someone is defiant, you mean they show aggression or independence by refusing to obey someone. The players are in defiant mood as they prepare for tomorrow's game... ADJ • defiantly They defiantly rejected any talk of a compromise. ADV: usu ADV with v

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Resistant, contumacious, recalcitrant. 2. Bold, daring, courageous.

Moby Thesaurus

aggressive, antagonistic, arrogant, audacious, belligerent, beyond control, bold, brash, brassy, brazen, breachy, bumptious, challenging, cheeky, cocky, contemptuous, contumacious, daring, defying, derisive, disdainful, disobedient, disregardful, fractious, greatly daring, gutsy, headstrong, hostile, impatient of control, impertinent, impudent, incorrigible, indocile, indomitable, insolent, insubordinate, insuppressible, intractable, irrepressible, mutinous, obstinate, obstreperous, ornery, out of hand, pert, pugnacious, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, regardless of consequences, resistant, resisting, restive, saucy, self-willed, shrewish, spunky, stubborn, unbiddable, uncontrollable, ungovernable, unmalleable, unmanageable, unmoldable, unruly, unsubmissive, unyielding, wild